By Gail Marsh
When we first purchased our RV, we could hardly contain our excitement! Family and friends were excited for us, too. In fact, family members helped us set up the RV before our maiden voyage. Time flies, a few years have passed, and now seems like a good time to take a second look. Is there a better way to organize the RV so that it functions more efficiently for the way we really live in it? Turns out, the answer is a resounding “Yes!”
Remove
I’d bet everyone has them. You know, the “extras” that you thought you needed, but as you’ve lived in your rig you’ve discovered you don’t! Take a minute or two and go through a cupboard or bank of drawers. Ask yourself: When is the last time I used this? If you can’t recall, it may be time to remove the item from the RV.
Hubby and I have hauled our salad spinner/lettuce keeper from coast to coast and not used it once! Our cake pans have not seen the light of day since my sister placed them in the drawer years ago. Sure, it’d be nice to enjoy freshly baked coffee cake at breakfast, but it hasn’t happened yet, so those pans are history. You get the idea.
Replace
We originally stocked our RV with Goodwill finds, garage sale treasures, and hand-me-downs from family. It was great! Now, however, I’m done trying to deal with the loose knob on the fry pan’s lid. Ditto for the toaster that only toasts one side of the bread. I can still live with the mismatched silverware and dishes, but those dish towels have definitely seen better days. They can go and live in the RV basement to help Hubby with his messy chores. I’m getting new ones.
Take a look around your kitchen and other areas in your RV. If you’re like me, you may not be able to replace everything. (At least not all at once.) But if there are a few things that rankle, consider getting new.
Reorganize
As I mentioned, friends and family helped us originally stock our RV. Family members put things away where they thought made sense. Every item stayed in that original place. For years. Until I decided to take a closer look. Yes, it makes sense that the slow cooker should be in the kitchen or galley area. However, I only use it occasionally. I relegated that big ol’ cooker to a cupboard in the living room. I can still easily retrieve it when I want, but now I have extra space and a more accessible spot for our plastic containers, which seem to procreate in the cupboard! Anyone else experience this strange phenomenon?
Refresh
After the hard work of removing, replacing, and reorganizing, it’s time to think about refreshing the aesthetics of your RV interior. My new dish towels will brighten the galley area. A different picture on our bedroom wall might be nice, and I really should get updated pictures of the grandkids to display on the side table.
Sofa pillows, a live or artificial flowering plant, or a different rug by the entry door can also refresh the looks of your rig. So can a brightly colored kitchen utensil holder or a bath hand towel. These simple things can make your RV feel like new again!
How have you reorganized your RV to make it function better? Share your ideas in the comments, please.
This was first posted on RVtravel.com in October, 2021
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Hidden storage in your RV? Yup, here’s where to find it
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The key to a stress free life in an rv is to have all your stored items in “numbered” plastic totes, & also numbered sub-containers inside larger totes. Then create an Excel spread sheet that shows exactly which tote or container the item is in. This completely eliminates the search for an item. It also means you don’t have to try to store like items together. If you’re looking for that extra anode rod for your water heater, you just pull out the list & it will tell you exactly which container it’s in. It takes a little effort to set the list up initially, but it’s well worth it, if you keep it current. I have an outside list for things in our exterior storage bays & an inside list for things inside the rv. I also have a list for things stored in a cargo trailer that we leave in our home town, for items that we want to keep, but don’t want in the rv. This system has worked beautifully for us in our 12 years of fulltiming so far.
Oh my!
Too much.
What a great idea, seems a lot more fit for a weekender that goes out 5 or 6 times a year & for sure forgets where stuff is! I tried to do that but I couldn’t find the list. LOL
Snoopy
I have started my list, inventory.
Got a neat hack for class A or C rvs
Put a pole..wood, metal conduit etc across coach right behind pilot n coolly seats up high. Use shower rod brackets,slide on energy eff. Blackout drapes with large grommets. Use 4 panels. Use these to keep dash AC up front on hot days. Great for lunch or nap privacy. I used 63″length and just slide them shut or open. No need to attach to each other.
Got this hack from fellow rv’r Bruce Plumb. Cost..less than 50 bucks.
The former owner of our MH must have used this idea as it came with wooden pole holders on either side behind the driver and passenger seats. The black out curtains are an interesting idea. My thought was just to use shower curtains to keep AC up front, but truth is, we’ve never felt the need, even on the hottest day.
Love this idea! Thx!!
Amen! So right. I now live in a 5th wheel. Without using clear containers with ID’s on each box I can’t imagine finding anything. Thank you Fred!
I have all my basement storage compartments numbered and plastic containers numbered within each compartment all identified on an Excel spreadsheet that has 2 separate sheets, one is sorted by compartment number, the other one is sorted alphabetical order. I then print 2 copies of each and keep 1 copy in the storage compartment closest to the entry door, the other copy is inside the coach on a Clipboard. Of course the spreadsheet is available on my laptop also.
Wow..just wow…can think of a number of times this would have helped me/us. I’m pretty good at remembering but over the past 3 full time years..things have moved and I’ve lost track of where it went. Didn’t realize how many hiding places there could be in 300 Square Feet..if that! Thanks for sharing your system!
We only had our C class two years when we switched to a trailer. We could not believe how much “necessary stuff” we had to remove and how much of it became unnecessary when we looked at it. About five hundred pounds lighter and a tax deductible donation slip in our pocket.
I use my small salad spinner! I cook almost every day when we are in RV. I pretty much use all my gadgets, but they are smaller versions of the appliances we have in our sticks and bricks. Anything we find that we do not use, we take off the RV. We are newly retired and RV more than half the year. We followed advice from others along our way.
We use a combination of two spreadsheets. One for the items always stored in the RV, such as RV tools, fire extinguishers, and camping gear; one for those items that need to be loaded before we take off, from cell phones, computers, and cables to individual’s clothing.
Smart idea! Thanks, Herman!
Great idea! We have used Google Docs, so that both my wife and I can add or subtract in real time items that need to be shuttled back and forth from the RV to the condo. When we park the RV in the storage unit which is 60 km away from home, I also take pictures of every drawer and cupboard so we can clearly see what we have. Whatever works!
We use Trello checklists for everything.
A salad spinner is not a one-trick pony. In fact, we rarely use it for lettuce. The pre-washed lettuce boxes fits our needs better. An article here on RV Travel gave lots of uses – we have used some of them and justified the spinner having a long term home.
We too started with a lot of used items. We couldn’t have afforded to buy everything new that stayed with the RV. But we have gradually ditched the used and bought new where it worked better for our needs. This season we are ditching the fabric over plywood window treatment to fabric valances. They will add a splash of color and weigh less.
We just reorganized the MH’s cabinets. We had food items back in the “bedroom” cabinets, which were a pain to retrieve when stopped at a rest area to eat lunch. So we moved the crackers, peanut butter, cookies, granola bars, etc., to a cabinet in the sofa slide. Then we put the teapot, crock pot, and other cookware that are never needed for lunch in the bedroom cabinets. We also eliminated the paper napkin “bin” and are now using paper towels for napkins. The hidden paper towel holder, located over the sink and behind the TV, is much more convenient than napkins in a cabinet bin and opens up more “kitchen” cabinet space.
The only colorful decor in our MH are my wife’s quilted bedspreads!
I love quilts….they add color plus personality!
Thank you, Gail! DW has used earthquake putty hither and yon within the RV (aka, Newton the New Aire) to affix decorations to horizontal surfaces. They, so far, remain in place while we travel and convey a homey feel once we park and set-up.